Gazans get their Internet from...Israel (and Egypt)

Gazans have been complaining for a while about the poor Internet service they have been receiving from PalTel. It has been unreliable and slow.

Some of them have come up with an innovative idea to solve it.

They obtain Israeli or Egyptian cell phones that have Internet capability and tether them (either via cable or Bluetooth) to their PCs and laptops.

It appears that Israeli mobile phone providers Cellcom and Orange have coverage over most of Gaza and they seem to have a way to get Gazans to pay their bills, perhaps electronically. Also, it seems that the Cellcom phones can be directly connected to routers, allowing many to share a single cell phone connection.

The Israeli and Egyptian wireless internet services are cheaper and faster than PalTel. You can be sure that the Internet traffic going over both countries' wireless infrastructure is being captured and analyzed as well.